Thursday, December 1, 2016

Wrathbone and Other Stories - by Jason Parent - A solid collection of chilling tales

5 of 5 Stars     Review copy

Jason Parent's new collection, Wrathbone and Other Stories, includes some wonderfully original tales of horror.  There may be only 5 stories in this collection, totaling 160 pages, but each tale is deserving of your attention and if you have yet to discover Jason's work, this book will serve as a worthy introduction.

Wrathbone - The collection begins with the novella length story of Lincoln's assassination, told as never before, in the voice of Poe or perhaps Lovecraft. The author truly captures the writing style of the old masters. "Terror ate at my sanity like mealworms through bread."  A great way to start this compilation of tales.

The Only Good Lawyer - Here the author breaths new life into the voodoo doll story with a narrative of a lawyer having a very bad day.

Dorian's Mirror - Dorian Clarke is a good looking guy, a model, and a part-time bartender. The reader will quickly discover the author choose this character's name for a reason.  "He owed his sub-par appearance to hallucinations spawned by a long night of drinking, drugging, and sex with a girl whose name he'd never forget."

For The Birds - Nev loved his parrot, Joli, a bird which has developed some unusual eating habits over the years.  Habits, Nev was all too happy to indulge. This particular tale didn't quite go the way I expected and was all the better for it.

Revenge Is a Dish - Maurice is a top-notch chef who takes a job aboard a rich Doctor's yacht on a trip around the world.  Ostensibly to cook, but also to bone the Doc's much younger wife every chance he gets.  Things don't exactly go as planned in this cold-hearted conclusion to a superb collection.

Wrathbone and Other Stories gets my highest recommendation and is available in both paperback and e-book formats from Comet Press.

From the author's bio - In his head, Jason Parent lives in many places, but in the real world, he calls New England his home. The region offers an abundance of settings for his writing and many wonderful places in which to write them. He currently resides in Southeastern Massachusetts with his cuddly corgi named Calypso.


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